A project digitizing hundreds of issues of the local newspaper has been completed.
In 2016, The Cross Timbers Gazette and the Flower Mound Public Library partnered on a project to preserve local history. Max Miller, publisher of the Gazette, loaned back issues of the newspaper to the Library for the purpose of making them available to the public, and the Library then worked with the Portal to Texas History to digitize the newspapers and make them available online.
The Portal to Texas History is a gateway to rare, historical and primary source materials from or about Texas. Created and maintained by the University of North Texas Libraries, the Portal provides a growing collection of resources, including hosting 6 million newspaper pages.
After about a year-and-a-half, the project is now complete, said Sue Ridnour, director of library services. Nearly 250 issues of the newspaper going back to 1988 can now be searched for free online in the Portal to Texas History.
“We’re very excited about it because it is a unique resource for southern Denton County history,” Ridnour said, “and it will be very valuable for someone who didn’t have another way of finding it.”
The library received a $1,000 grant for the project from UNT, and the Friends of the Flower Mound Library organization will cover the remaining costs, Ridnour said.
Newspaper archives offer a historical record of interest to researchers in many academic areas, including political science, sociology, and arts and literature.
“I am very grateful to the Flower Mound Public Library for making it possible to preserve local history for future generations,” Miller said.
The Cross Timbers Gazette, known for years as The Double Oak Gazette, was originally started as a monthly newsletter in 1979 in Double Oak and run by a handful of volunteers that kept tabs on local people, happenings and town government.
Read back issues online here.
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